The Malik Report

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

UPDATE: The #RedWings today signed defenseman Robert Hagg to a one-year contract with an average annual value of $800,000.

📰 » https://t.co/c70lnkfJmt pic.twitter.com/65zwmV2rAX— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 25, 2022

DETROIT SIGNS ROBERT HAGG TO ONE-YEAR CONTRACT

  … Defenseman Split 2021-22 Season Between Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed defenseman Robert Hagg to a one-year contract with an average annual value of $800,000.

Hagg, 27, split the 2021-22 season between the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres, recording nine points (1-8-9) and 35 penalty minutes in 64 games. The 6-foot-2, 207-pound blueliner has skated in 300 career NHL games with the Panthers (2021-22), Sabres (2021-22) and Philadelphia Flyers (2016-21), notching 56 points (14-42-56), a plus-four rating and 178 penalty minutes. He also registered three assists in 14 postseason appearances with the Flyers, helping the team reach the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Additionally, Hagg has compiled 50 points (16-34-50) and 142 penalty minutes in 202 games with the American Hockey League’s Adirondack/Lehigh Valley Phantoms from 2013-17.

Originally selected by the Flyers in the second round (41st overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, the Uppsala, Sweden, native logged a plus-two rating and four penalty minutes in eight appearances for his country at the 2019 IIHF World Championship. Hagg also competed in three-straight IIHF World Junior Championships from 2013-15, winning back-to-back silver medals in 2013 and 2014. He previously served as an alternate captain for Sweden at the 2013 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, tallying four points (1-3-4), a plus-one rating and 12 penalty minutes in five contests. Hagg represented Sweden at the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, logging five points (3-2-5) in four games. He led all defensemen in scoring at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge with six points (2-4-6) while adding 16 penalty minutes in six contests, and also skated in four games at the 2011 World Junior A Challenge. Prior to arriving in North America, Hagg played two seasons with MODO Hockey in Sweden’s top professional league, picking up seven points (1-6-7) and 49 penalty minutes in 77 games from 2012-14. 

Hagg, 27, is 6’2″ and 205 pounds.

The Red Wings posted a video of Alex Nedeljkovic flying with the Blue Angels last week…

And this morning, Bally Sports Detroit posted a report regarding Nedeljkovic’s status as a guest of the aerobatic team. BSD’s Natalie Kerwin reports from Willow Run Airport:

Great news for both parties:

UPDATE: The #RedWings and AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins today announced a five-year extension of their affiliation agreement.

More » https://t.co/bJwCY6r8fS pic.twitter.com/IhSH9taUHg— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 25, 2022

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins and the Detroit Red Wings on Monday announced a five-year extension of their affiliation agreement, ensuring that one of the most fruitful and passion-inducing partnerships in hockey will continue through at least the 2026-27 season.

This 20-year-old affiliation has seen the Griffins win the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup on two occasions (2013 and 2017), making Grand Rapids one of three active AHL franchises to ever claim two cups within a span of five seasons. Coupled with the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup in 2008, the Detroit organization’s three combined AHL and NHL championships over the last two decades tie for third behind Tampa Bay (3 NHL, 1 AHL) and Washington (1 NHL, 3 AHL), and only one other current AHL-NHL pairing (Hershey-Washington) has produced a championship for both teams over that timeframe.

The Griffins-Red Wings partnership comprises one of the longest affiliations between current AHL and NHL franchises, ranking as the sixth-longest tenure. The Providence Bruins and Boston Bruins have the longest active, uninterrupted affiliation at 30 years.

“We are excited that the 20-year relationship between the Griffins and the Red Wings, one of the premier NHL/AHL partnerships, is continuing,” said Scott Gorsline, executive vice president of DP Fox and COO/alternate governor for the Griffins. “Steve Yzerman, Shawn Horcoff and the entire Red Wings organization are great partners, and we look forward to exciting and competitive hockey in Detroit and Grand Rapids over the next five years.”

The Griffins have sent 112 players to Hockeytown since the affiliation’s inception in 2002. The names of nine former Griffins were engraved on the Stanley Cup following Detroit’s 2008 title, and 76 Grand Rapids alumni played for the Red Wings over the final 13 seasons of their remarkable 25-year playoff streak that ended in 2016.

Most recently, 19 of the 38 players who appeared in at least one game for Detroit in 2021-22 also spent time with the Griffins during their careers. Ten of them were recalled from Grand Rapids last season, including Chase Pearson, who made his NHL debut on March 24. Last month, Moritz Seider became the first Grand Rapids alum to win the NHL’s Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition.

“Grand Rapids continues to be a model franchise both on and off the ice and we’re excited to continue our partnership,” said Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman. “The winning culture established by the Griffins is extremely beneficial for the development of our young players and the fans in Grand Rapids do a tremendous job creating an exciting atmosphere to support the growth of our players.”

The Griffins (Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy) and Red Wings (Presidents’ Trophy) won their respective regular-season titles in 2005-06, becoming the first of only two sets of affiliates (Hershey-Washington in 2009-10) in at least the last 37 years to claim their leagues’ best records in the same season.

In all, the 20-year relationship between Michigan’s premier hockey teams has brought two cups, one regular-season championship, five conference finals appearances, 11 playoff berths (in 18 postseasons, including a franchise-record seven straight from 2013 through 2019), and four division titles to Grand Rapids, along with one cup, another trip to the final, three regular-season championships, three conference final appearances, 13 playoff berths, and seven division crowns to Detroit.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman spoke with former Arizona Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet and former Arizona Coyotes forward Conor Garland (now a 52-point-scorer with the Vancouver Canucks) regarding the work of former Arizona Coyotes assistant/Tuscon Roadrunners coach Jay Varady.

The Red Wings hired Varady to be one of Derek Lalonde’s assistants behind the Red Wings’ bench this upcoming season, and Bultman discusses Varady’s hands-on approach this morning:

Detroit had only carried two on-bench assistant coaches since 2020, when Adam Nightingale left the Red Wings for the U.S. NTDP and was not replaced, but now is going back to a deeper bench under first-year coach Derek Lalonde. After hiring associate coach Bob Boughner and goaltending coach Alex Westlund during the NHL Draft, Varady is the latest piece of a staff that Lalonde envisions as a collaborative unit, sharing special teams assignments between them to get more eyes and minds on each task.

And certainly, one of the biggest areas of emphasis for Detroit will be improving a penalty kill that last season ranked as the worst in the league.

Tocchet’s staff was similarly collaboratively-driven, but Varady was relied upon there to helm a unit that had been a top-five PK in the NHL under Tocchet — but had also just lost their three most-trusted forwards (based on time-on-ice) from that unit: Derek Stepan, Brad Richardson and Michael Grabner. And as Tocchet recalls, replacing them got off to a rocky start.

But Varady and fellow assistant coach Cory Stillman helped the Coyotes right the ship, and by year’s end, buoyed the PK back to being a fringe-top-10 unit again.

“Jay did a hell of a job,” Tocchet said last week. “He didn’t waver. Sometimes, when things don’t go your way, you panic a little bit. He didn’t panic.”

Continued (paywall)

iSport.cz’s Miroslav Horak spoke with former Red Wings forward Jiri Hudler regarding the current-day team’s rebuilding effort, but most of the article is stuck behind a paywall. Here’s a rough translation of the introduction to the article, from Czech to English:

Czech Detroit: Yzerman knows what he’s doing, says Jiri Hudler. Will they contend for the Stanley Cup?

He experienced the sweet end of an amazing Red Wings era at the dawn of the summer of 2008. Jiri Hudler lifted the Stanley Cup above his head, fought in the finals a year later. And a gradual fall followed, the departures of first-class icons. Today, hockey in Detroit is as part of a pack of NHL teams working on roster reconstruction. It’s been too long for some. Will the team with a four-Czech enclave restore the once-famous Hockeytown to the next level? “Stevie Yzerman knows what he’s doing,” Hudler says of his former teammate and current team GM.

With several domestic ambassadors, things are building up for Detroit. Filip Hronek is already among the stable players on the team, and he spearheads the defense. Jakub Vrana is considered to be the team’s central sniper, who’s expected to score 30 or more goals over the course of a full season. There’s great potential hidden in Filip Zadina, who hasn’t been re-signed yet. And to all of this comes a fresh purchase in the form of Dominik Kubalik, a capable forward who intends to fight for a return to better numbers. Detroit will attempt to make the playoffs, where it hasn’t been for six consecutive seasons.

What does a former Stanley Cup champion who spent his glory days with the team think about the current Red Wings?

“With the departures of Datsyuk and Zetterberg, Detroit began a new era. I don’t want to say that they declined, but there was a big, fundamental change that began. Stevie Yzerman returned from Tampa, and in my eyes, he’s a definite guarantee that things will rise again in Detroit. Gradually, but 100%”

Up to the very top of the league?

“I’m not saying that the era of Yzerman, Shanahan, Larionov, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and others will return. But I think we will see where the organization will go by comparing it to the one Yzerman led in Tampa. He was the one who built the current Lightning, which has won the Stanley Cup twice in the last three years, and this year only fell in the Stanley Cup Final against the absolutely great Colorado Avalanche. Perhaps up to 90% of it was the work of Stevie, who was behind the assembly of the winning line-up. He made a lot of good moves with the Lightning, and I believe that something similar is in the works in Detroit. He’s made good purchases in the last couple of days.”

The article continues behind the paywall, promising the following…

What is Steve Yzerman’s magic? And is he inclined to pick Czech hockey players? What does he see in players that others don’t? How did the crisis of the city affect Detroit? And what does it look like there now? And what does Hudler say about the Palace in New Jersey?

What is the magic of Yzerman? And is he inclined towards Czech hockey? What do they see in players that others don’t? How did the crisis of the city affect Detroit? And what does it look like there now? And what does Hudler say about the Palace in New Jersey?

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reflects upon the points made by one Dominik Kubalik during his introductory press conference, discussing Kubalik’s game and his status as a sniper trying to re-set his career after struggling in his 2nd and 3rd NHL campaigns:

From his point of view, Kubalik, 26, looks upon every hockey season as another chance to do something special.

“I kind of feel every season is a new start,” Kubalik said. “You can get better, you can learn something. There is always something you can get better. Even from my first season, I knew that if I want to stay and I’m going to produce the same way I did, I need to do some things better. I think I was trying to make those steps for me, especially defensively.”

He followed that 30-goal [rookie] campaign in Chicago with seasons of 17 and 15 goals. Kubalik felt even though his production was dipping, his overall game was growing.

“From year one to year three I think I got better,” he said. “For me it’s usually not usually the points, I think sometimes it’s better when you grow as a man, a human being. I think every season I made a step forward. From being a rookie, maybe a little older rookie, but still a rookie, learning things, stuff around the league. Right now I feel more confident about it and know what to expect. There is always something and right now I can see a clean table, fresh start, fresh mind. For sure it’s going to be helpful to me.”

Continued

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler posted his list of the Top 50 NHL Prospects under 23 years of age, discussing his top 50 skaters this morning. Only one Red Wings prospect cracked his list, one Simon Edvinsson:

14. Simon Edvinsson, LHD, 19 (Detroit Red Wings — No. 6, 2021): Things went really well for Edvinsson this year. He played big minutes on a European giant in his first full season at the SHL level, he looked like a force in the short-lived world juniors, and the areas of his game that needed (and still need) some cleaning up got it for the most part.

His ceiling is extremely high and backed by a unique set of traits and skills for a 6-foot-5 player (let alone defenceman). These include his uncharacteristically soft hands and control of the puck, his fearlessness with and without it, and his strong foundational knowledge of how to use his towering frame to defend in a variety of ways (with an active stick, with step-up physicality when opportunities present themselves, on box-outs, etc.).

If he can develop his shot (one of those areas that still needs work), continue to smooth out his game, and make better choices (which he did this year), the potential is there in spades. It was also nice to see him make more play-ending passes and create a ton of chances (he should actually have a couple more goals under his belt) to add to his already-dominant transition game as a confident carrier and transporter.

I hate this cliche but you really can’t teach hands like his at that size. He tries things, he usually pulls them off, and he’s more comfortable handling the puck under pressure than just about any teenage defenceman I’ve scouted (regardless of size). He has also found greater control of his gangly frame (he’s a good skater and always has been but his stride can splay from the knees) and takes up a lot of space defensively. He’s going to be a very good — and different — player if he can maintain his take-charge mentality on both sides of the puck and put it all together at the NHL level.

Wheeler continues (paywall).

Edvinsson’s listed at 6’5″ on some pages and 6’6″ on others, and I’ll definitely agree that he’s got some work to do to “smooth” some rough edges out of his game, especially as he adjusts to the North American rink, but he’s got a borderline arrogance about him that really stands out when he’s carrying the puck, and he’s an excellent skater with size and strength in spades.

I’m not so certain that you’re going to get a lot out of this unless you speak German, but Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider spoke with the website of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga yesterday afternoon, appearing on their podcast, “Eiskalt auf den Punkt” (Ice-cold to the Point). Here’s a translation of the summary of his 31-minute interview:

National team player Moritz Seider on winning the Calder Memorial Trophy in the NHL

He’s an absolute high-flyer in German ice hockey during the past couple of seasons. And he’s really turning it up in the NHL. So much so that, just over three weeks ago, Moritz Seider was named the Rookie of the Year in the best league in the world. Today, he’s a guest here on the podcast!

The last couple of months have been like a dream for Moritz Seider. It doesn’t get much better than this. The defenseman performed incredibly well in Sweden with Rogle BK, and received top marks. And with the Detroit Red Wings, who loaned him to the Swedish team, things got even better. Seider played well, and presented himself physically eye-to-eye with the greats of his position.

Of course, one has to ask how he deals with all of this, and how he processes it. You’ll hear the answers here today, and at the same time, hear a formula for success from Moritz. He doesn’t think too much about it; he enjoys the here and now. And his full focus is on the daily work, both on and off the ice.

He’s currently staying in Germany to recharge his batteries for the new season. He reveals how and why he really wants to improve his golf game, that he’s planned to go on another vacation to Switzerland, and that he’s looking forward to his grandmother’s 70th birthday–all before he goes back to America. With the Red Wings, he would like to take the next step, and take on even more responsibility on the team.

NHL.com is posting late-July assessments of the offseason moves made by each and every one of its 32 member franchises. Tonight, Nicholas J. Cotsonika examines the Red Wings trade, free agency and coaching alterations, suggesting that GM Steve Yzerman is attempting to kick-start the team’s rebuilding effort.

As you know by now, the Red Wings added Ville Husso via a draft-day trade, Andrew Copp, Ben Chiarot, David Perron, Olli Maatta and Dominik Kubalik via free agency, and coaches Derek Lalonde, Bob Boughner, Jay Varady and Alex Westlund are all part of the mix as well.

Cotsonika lists defensemen Marc Staal and Danny DeKeyser as key subtractions, as well as 31-point-scorer Sam Gagner and #1B goaltender Thomas Greiss (among others), and he offers the following take as to who’s “on the cusp“:

On the cusp: Simon Edvinsson, D: The 19-year-old, who signed a three-year, entry-level contract on April 24, will have a chance to make the NHL roster after playing for Sweden at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton from Aug. 9-20. Edvinsson, the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, was a finalist for rookie of the year in the Swedish Hockey League last season after he had 19 points (two goals, 17 assists) in 44 games for Frolunda. … Jonatan Berggren, F: The 22-year-old, who was selected in the second round (No. 33) of the 2018 NHL Draft, led Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League with 64 points (21 goals, 43 assists) in 70 games last season. … Elmer Soderblom, F: The 21-year-old, a sixth-round pick (No. 159) in the 2019 NHL Draft, had 33 points (21 goals, 12 assists) in 52 games for Frolunda last season.

What they still need: General manager Steve Yzerman said he is content with the roster entering training camp, so for now, the Red Wings need their new coaching staff to sort out the returning players and new pieces. They need everyone to jell.

They said it: “I think we’ve addressed some needs. I’m hoping we’re a better team. I think we’re progressing slowly in this rebuilding of the Red Wings. Are we good enough to make the playoffs [this season]? I don’t know.” — general manager Steve Yzerman

I’m not certain that the GM is done adding pieces–as he told us all, he’s going to explore trades with cap-strapped teams–but I do think that the Wings are largely done making moves for the summer, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what a largely new coaching staff does with training camp and the preseason to establish a new message and a new work ethic within an overhauled roster.

Anyway, Cotsonika’s analysis continues with a bit of fantasy hockey talk via NHL.com’s Ana Dua, and he offers an estimate of the Red Wings’ healthy opening-night lines.

As Detroit Hockey Now’s hockey crew continues its audit of the Red Wings’ prospect system, they’ve been weighing in with their observations regarding players in Detroit’s developmental system, and I’ve weighed in as well.

Today’s focus from DHN, one Notre Dame’s Jack Adams–as authored by Nate Brown–is truly one of the most difficult prospects to pin down.

Adams is a massive 6’6″ and 209 pounds, but the right-shooting power forward had his NCAA career derailed by both a knee injury suffered at the Wings’ 2019 development camp, the scheduling hiccups and cancellations of the COVID era, and a set of transfers from Union to Providence College and now Notre Dame.

At 25, there isn’t much developmental runway left for the 5th-year student, and it’s just hard to say whether the Red Wings have a need for what Adams has only recently been able to provide again:

Working on his graduate degree at Notre Dame, Adams‘ path to Notre Dame was affected by tragedy when his brother Mark passed away suddenly in 2018. Then at Union College, Adams played at Providence during the 2020-21 season, donning his brother’s number in the lone season. His season at Notre Dame, then, is one of triumph as he has been challenged by more than just the ups and down of a hockey journey.

As for his time in Detroit, Adams’ rights still belong to Detroit through August 15, 2023. The 6’6 forward will return to Notre Dame for the 2022-23 season, and the Red Wings will be keeping an eye on his performance.

Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson said in the school’s official announcement of Adams’ return that he made “big strides in rediscovering his game.”

His successes, whether or not they result in an entry-level contract, go far past playing the game. From a perspective of where he is in Detroit’s system, he’s somewhere in the middle.

But if he builds on the success of last season, what a story it will become for the Red Wings prospect. It’s one that will go beyond just success on the ice.

Continued; it’s just really hard to peg Adams’ “upside” down given that he’s played so little until last season. Between the knee injury and COVID, he only played 6 games in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons combined, and while he definitely plays a powerful forward’s game, his status as a point-per-every-other-game forward isn’t exactly “wow” material.

He’s somebody one roots for given that he both lost his brother and had his career interrupted by both the knee injury and COVID, but at 25 years of age, there’s just not a lot of time for him to “make the jump” as he’ll be 26 at the end of this upcoming season.